Marietta Malan is nurturing a dream garden at her Long Beach home, as well as trying her hand at raising chickens.

It's one of those tranquil settings that can be so inviting: a 1907 Dutch colonial revival on a shady street, blocks from the beach to keep the temperatures cool and comfortable. And it's quiet, with only the sound of the birds fluttering in the fig tree or the occasional car pulling into a driveway.

It's the backyard garden we'd all like to have, if we started from scratch. Each equidistant square has a fruit tree or two surrounded by flowers, squashes, salad greens and herbs.

But Marietta Malan, a retired legal secretary who has lived on the Long Beach property for 10 years, didn't change much when she moved in.

“The previous owners were gardeners until their 90s,” Malan said. “My passion for the property just how it is is the reason they sold it to us.”

There were tweaks. Malan expanded the slate patio area and widened the pathways.

“The garden needed a bit of refurbishing because the previous owners were old, but not much,” she said.

Part of the landscape is carefully clipped and contrasts with the garden beds that spill over with culinary plants. Malan tends to the front garden, too, and the front of the fourplex next door that she also owns.

And then there are the chickens living in a luxurious coop in the corner of the quarter-acre yard. Chickens are her latest addition, inspired by her sister's farm in Oregon.

“I was always enamored with her chickens,” Malan said. “But it took a few years for me to figure out how to care for them, check with zoning, and then design the coop.”

Malan is getting her first eggs this year from her Rhode Island Red, Wyandotte, Leghorn, Araucana and Australorp.

“In fact, I had my sister wait to clean the coop before I came for a visit, because I wanted to see chicken-keeping at its worst.”

Malan is abandoning her compost bin for trench composting this year, and chicken droppings are part of her soil-building plan.

“I dig a trench, drop in the chicken manure, kitchen scraps and garden clippings. Then I cover it with soil and plant a cover crop on top. By spring I'll have beautiful soil to plant vegetables in.”

Malan's mother was an avid gardener, but she grew tropicals. Malan prefers a garden that gives back.

“I like a productive garden. When I put something in the soil, I want something to come out of it,” she said.

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